Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2021 44 T his has been a very volatile year for a number of reasons, not least of them the coronavirus pandemic which has disrupted casino businesses around the world. I was asked recently to be one of the moderators for a webinar, hosted by ICE Digital, which attracted attendees from across the globe. The subject was Casino Marketing: Back to the Basics. The webinar ran for three days and had some very accomplished and professional speakers involved. The objective was not only to look at the way we do business today but also to look back and see if there were any really good ideas from years ago that could be implemented today to try to help improve business or allow casinos to operate more efficiently and profitably. Over the past few years we’ve heard about several very high-profile cases involving anti-money laundering (AML) issues. Money laundering is one of the most serious, egregious and offensive problems a casino will ever have to deal with. It is also an issue that warrants the most severe penalties from regulators – often with fines running into the millions of dollars. Casinos or individuals can even lose their gaming licenses, forcing the casino’s closure or sale or resulting in an employee or executive being expelled from the industry forever. One current case involves Crown Resorts in Australia, which recently admitted at an inquiry into its suitability to hold a casino license that some of its international bank accounts may have been used for money laundering purposes. This is a current COLUMNISTS